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Venezuela
Venezuela (i/ˌvɛnəˈzweɪlə/ ''ven-ə-'zwayl'-ə''; Spanish: beneˈswela), officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela1 (Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America. Venezuela's territory covers around 916,445 km2 (353,841 sq mi) with an estimated population around 33,221,865. Venezuela is considered a state with extremely high biodiversity, with habitats ranging from the AndesMountains in the west to the Amazon Basin rainforest in the south, via extensive llanos plains and Caribbean coast in the center and the Orinoco River Delta in the east. The territory currently known as Venezuela was colonized by Spain in 1522 amid resistance from indigenous peoples. In 1811, it became one of the first Spanish-American colonies to declare independence, which was not securely established until 1821, when Venezuela was a department of the federal republic of Gran Colombia. It gained full independence as a separate country in 1830. During the 19th century, Venezuela suffered political turmoil and autocracy, remaining dominated by regional caudillos (military strongmen) until the mid-20th century. Since 1958, the country has had a series of democratic governments. Economic shocks in the 1980s and 1990s led to several political crises, including the deadly Caracazo riots of 1989, two attempted coups in 1992, and the impeachment of President Carlos Andrés Pérez for embezzlement of public funds in 1993. A collapse in confidence in the existing parties saw the 1998 election of former coup-involved career officer Hugo Chávez and the launch of the Bolivarian Revolution, beginning with a 1999 Constituent Assembly to write a new Constitution of Venezuela. Venezuela is a federal presidential republic consisting of 23 states, the Capital District (covering Caracas), and federal dependencies (covering Venezuela's offshore islands). Venezuela also claims all Guyanese territory west of the Essequibo River, a 159,500-square-kilometre (61,583 sq mi) tract dubbed Guayana Esequiba or the Zona en Reclamación (the "zone being reclaimed").6 Venezuela is among the most urbanized countries in Latin America;78 the vast majority of Venezuelans live in the cities of the north, especially in the capital, Caracas, which is also the largest city in Venezuela. Since the discovery of oil in the early 20th century, Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserves and has been one of the world's leading exporters of oil. Previously an underdeveloped exporter of agricultural commodities such as coffeeand cocoa, oil quickly came to dominate exports and government revenues. The 1980s oil glut led to an external debt crisis and a long-running economic crisis, in which inflation peaked at 100% in 1996 and poverty rates rose to 66% in 19959 as (by 1998) per capita GDP fell to the same level as 1963, down a third from its 1978 peak.10 The recovery of oil prices in the early 2000s gave Venezuela oil fund not seen since the 1980s.11 The Venezuelan government then initiated populist policies which initially boosted the Venezuelan economy and facilitated social spending which significantly reduced economic inequality and poverty.11121314 Such populist policies were questioned since their initiation and the over dependence on oil funds led to overspending on social programs while strict government polices created difficulties for Venezuela's import reliant businesses.111516 Venezuela under Hugo Chávez then suffered "one of the worst cases of Dutch Disease in the world" due to the Bolivarian government's large dependence on oil sales.1718 In February 2013, Venezuela devalued its currency due to the rising shortages in the country.19 Shortages in Venezuela included milk, flour, and other necessities.20 In 2014, Venezuela entered an economic recession.21 Poverty and inflation also increased and as of December 2014, Venezuela's inflation rate was 68.5%.1622 Economic problems, as well as crime and corruption, were some of the main causes of the 2014–15 Venezuelan protests.2324 All sources from Wikipedia. Category:Nations Category:Present Day Category:Real Nations Category:Nations in South America